Nick Clegg taken to task by 9-year-old over school meals

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was left squirming today as he was grilled on
the Coalition's free school meals policy by a nine-year-old boy

1:03PM BST 04 Sep 2014

Nick Clegghas been taken to task by a 9-year-old boy from south London over school mealson his regular LBC radio phone-in show.

Rohan had the Deputy Prime Minister on the ropes with detailed statistics and objections to the flagship Liberal Democrat measure.

At one point during the encounter on his regular LBC radio phone-in Mr Clegg suggested, with a hint of desperation: "You probably need to go back to class."

The youngster, who said he was calling from his school in south London, started off by complaining that his own school meals were "unhealthy".

"I was wondering why you had decided to introduce free school meals, which is a very expensive product, when at my school they are quite unhealthy and the evidence shows they don't make children achieve or behave better," he said.

Mr Clegg replied: "The evidence shows that it is in fact extremely helpful.

"So in the schools where this has been introduced in the past ... not only does it save mums and dads money - about £400 a year to pay for the lunchtime costs - not only is it good for your health...

"I'm sure this is not the case for you, Rohan, but quite a lot of children go to school with lunch boxes that don't have healthy food in them - I don't know, a slice of white bread and a fizzy drink. It's better to have a proper cooked hot healthy meal with vegetables and so on...

"It's good, isn't it - it's nice when the class eats together."

A seemingly disconcerted Mr Clegg, inadvertently referring to the schoolboy as "Ryan", then attempted to move the discussion on by asking: "What kind of lunch do you eat?"

But Rohan insisted: "I do think it's important to eat well, but a lot of schools, I think, a lot of the parents could already afford to pay for those meals. So I was wondering whether perhaps you could just target it to the areas where parents can't afford to pay for the meals better."

Mr Clegg said: "Actually the children who benefit most are the children who are poor, who are not wealthy... "

However, Rohan broke in to suggest they would "already be entitled to free school meals".

And when the Lib Dem leader argued that in many areas poorer children were not entitled to free school meals, his inquisitor responded: "Couldn't you just target it to their areas, rather than doing it for the whole country where a lot of people could afford it?"

A chastened Mr Clegg - whose own middle son, Alberto, is nine years old - seized on a sound in the background, commenting "I've just heard your class bell go."